Our grade 3 students are up at North Vancouver’s Outdoor School. Paradise Valley is living up to its name. I visited yesterday, and found all the children happy and energetic.
I heard about pigs and turkeys. Some children climbed through a tree. They were enjoying warm weather and great counsellors. The soup the first day was “the best.”
Here are a few more images from yesterday.
Take care
This week we celebrated Earth Week in a few different ways. Thank you to all the many volunteers who help make these events happen.
Blue and Green Day – On Earth Day, we were asked to wear blue or green to help celebrate the day.
Lights Out Lunch – Also on Earth Day, we had our first Lights Out Lunch (LOL). Lights Out Lunches will continue one day per week for the rest of the school year.
Counted Walk – We celebrated Earth Week with a counted walk before school on Wednesday. Cleveland Walks is one of our key messages this year, and we had a great turnout for the walk.
Lights Out Team – Our Lights Out Team continues to meet and remind us to turn out the lights when we leave our classrooms. We have also been reminded to use power bars with our electronic devices, and to turn the power bars off when not in use. We are asked to do our part to conserve energy.
“An understanding of the natural world and what’s in it is a source of not only a great curiosity but great fulfillment.” —David Attenborough
Free the Trees – Despite the torrential downpours, our dedicated volunteers (thanks Leah and Jessica) worked with classes to teach children about healthy forests, healthy environments, and how to pull invasive plant species that are choking our trees. We also had help from some of our grade 7 students. Some classes were not able to have their turn yesterday (due to weather). We will find time for them soon.
New Trees – a few years ago, we had some young maples and dogwood trees planted around the west playground. Unfortunately, some vandals struck and the trees were ripped out of the ground and thrown on the roof. Our volunteers planted some new trees this week. Let’s hope they are allowed to grow to full maturity.
Edible Garden – Our edible garden will soon be ready to go outside. The plants are thriving in our front hallway and will soon be moved into the courtyard garden.
Km Club – Our Km club started on Tuesday, and we have already “walked” to Revelstoke, B.C., along Highway #1. Well done. Walking to school is an excellent way to reduce greenhouse emissions and to get young brains energized for the day.
Food Waste – One of our classes is currently piloting a food waste removal project for the North Vancouver School Board. Schools will all soon be required to ensure that food waste is not directed to the landfills, and we are working towards less garbage.
Salmon Release – Division F09 will release about 200 chum salmon today in a local stream. Thanks to the efforts of a dedicated teacher and several grade 7 students, our two tanks stayed healthy and the fish are ready to be free. It looks like a great day for the release.
It is wonderful to see so many initiatives to support a healthy, greener school.
Take care
The long weekend is here, and the school is almost empty.
The highways are slow, and ferry traffic looks busy.
I hope everyone has a great long weekend somewhere on our wet coast.
Take care
I had another good day today at Cleveland. A bit rainy, but we expect that here in North Vancouver. At least we did not have snow. Looking forward to more sunny days like this past Monday in our courtyard (picutre to the left).
We had our Virtue of the Month Assembly, and two of our grade 6 students (Avin and Iiona) were our MC’s for the event. Our main focus was on forgiveness, but we also spent some time on energy conservation, recycling, composting, fitness and the km club.
Jennifer (grade 7) led off the assembly by playing piano for Oh! Canada! Thanks Jennifer
Avin, Iiona and David (also grade 6) read out some quotes on forgiveness. One of my favourite forgiveness quotes is:
Forgiveness is a virtue of the brave. ~ Indira Gandhi
We had a guest speaker come in to discuss energy conservation, and then our Lights Out crew introduced our Lights Out Lunches. Ask your child about our upcoming Lights Out Lunch. If they can’t remember, we will send something out soon.
Division E04 introduced our compost program which is starting in their class. This may soon grow to include the whole school. A key goal in our school will be to find ways to reduce the amount of garbage that we produce which ends up in the land fill. In their garbage audit, the grade 4 students found items in the garbage cans that could have been recycled. We are challenged to do better.
Mme Bulsara (teacher) and Mrs. Taylor (parent) introduced the km club to the school. The km club starts next Tuesday at 8:15 am on the lower field. Prizes will be involved. They also introduced a Canadian champion runner, Jerry Ziak, to the students. Jeremy shared some inspirational words about running and the benefits of keeping your body healthy. Jeremy will be joining us for the first km club run.
There were a lot of other things to report on that happened today, but I might share them later. I will share one item before I go home. A short poem:
My wandering mind is at it again
Take care
This past Thursday evening, thanks to the leadership of two teachers and a book store owner, as well as with the help of a number of other individuals, Cleveland Elementary was home to Words in the Woods, a celebration of poetry.
Thank you Mme Santarosa and Mme Berry for inspiring our young poets, and this old one too. Thanks to Deb from 32 Books for her invaluable contributions to this evening. We appreciate the hours and hours of extra effort you all made to make this a special evening.
The evening was magical. The gym was transformed into a forest. Trees, large mushrooms, ferns, a couple of deer and some birds hiding in the foliage drew us into their world, where children (and adults) were invited to create poetry on river rocks, on clotheslines, on quilts and on magnetic boards. Our fishing pond for poems was a hit with the little ones, as was being able to write their poems outside with sidewalk chalk.
The most magical part of the evening for me was watching the students recite poems that they had written or ones they wanted to share. Thank you to the following students who helped to create the magic:
Nika (grade 1), Brennan (grade 4), Maddi (grade 3), Tessa (grade 3), Diba (grade 6), Cameron (grade 6), Sydney (grade 6), Oliver (grade 6), Zozia (grade 5), Robyn (grade 5), Jennifer (grade 5), Dreya (grade 3), Hayden (grade 1), Cassandra (grade 6), Ben (grade 6), Grace (grade 6), Murray (grade 1), Mone (grade 6), Alyssa (grade 6), Tianna (grade 6), Cierra (grade 5), Staffania (grade 5), Nicole (grade 5), Claire (grade 4), Kobi (grade 6) and Simon (grade 5).
They did an outstanding job speaking in front of over 300 people.
We also had a guest from the Squamish Nation, a former student share a slam poem, a father of one of our students, a singer/songwriter perform a couple of songs, and a few adults read what they have written. Thanks to Stewart Gonzales (Aboriginal Drummer), Andrew Warner (Handsworth student), Chris Mizzoni (father and author), (Jody Quinne (singer/songwriter), Dhana Musil (creative writer), and Charles Van Sandwyk (artist and writer). I also read a poem, and will include it at the end of this post.
Thanks to Mel and the Cleveland parents. We are so fortunate to be partners with such a supportive and encouraging PAC at Cleveland. Together, the parents, staff and students work to create a fantastic school culture, and it is a joy to be part of this team.
Thanks as well to the parents who lent us items (kiddie pools) for our forest. Maple Leaf Gardens lent us some ferns for our forest. Thanks Loni.
Thanks as well to everyone who came along and supported this wonderful evening. Our wonderful crepe makers (former teachers from Clevleand) fed the crowd. The number of students and adults who volunteered their time to make this event a success is mind boggling. Again, we are so fortunate to be part of such a wonderful community.
Please visit 32 Books in the village.
Take care
Walk the Streets By Doug Beveridge In parts of the city people suffer. My fancy hotel serves as a buffer. From men of the streets who beg for some change, From me every time I come within range. Walk the streets. Stare straight ahead. You may not see those less fed. They live in the gutters. Sleep on the streets. Survival for them is a tremendous feat. Some are aggressive. Some are quite calm. They think you are rich and beg you for alms. You shake your head and keep on walking. Can’t you hear your conscience talking? You’re just one man. What can you do? A few spare coins won’t see them through. To help these poor souls would feel great, But perhaps it should be left up to fate. Is it really my calling to feed the poor? Perhaps it is not, but could I do more? Once in a while, I could give just a bit. Some of my change. Do I need all of it?